


dogs were barking

by ghosthunter



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Curses, M/M, Magical Realism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-17 13:46:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11276514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghosthunter/pseuds/ghosthunter
Summary: The dog is there still the next time Nicke comes over for dinner, and honestly, “Ovi, did you seriously get a new dog?”





	dogs were barking

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kingsoftheimpossible](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingsoftheimpossible/gifts).



> happy birthday, wade.
> 
>  
> 
> (here's something fun and dumb, don't take it too seriously. don't think too hard about holtby's hat. also "magical realism" like okay i don't know what else to tag it as.)

Nobody knows where the dog came from. It appears outside Ovi's gate, and it doesn't leave. Then, somehow, it makes its way inside, past Ovi's gate, and he doesn't try and make it leave.

"When did you get another dog?" Nicke asks. He's over for dinner, which is not an irregular occurrence. Although, in fairness, Ovi getting a new dog is not that irregular either.

"Not mine," Ovi says. Since the dog is currently romping around with Ovi's other dogs in his backyard and not outside the gate or in someone else's yard, Nicke feels justified in his skepticism. He raises an eyebrow. Ovi is looking at the grill instead, and doesn't see it.

And it's true that the dog isn't a German Shepherd, or even anything Nicke can imagine Ovi actually going out of his way to own. It's smaller and brown and has floppy hair and it is barking imperiously at the other dogs. But honestly, this is ridiculous.

"But it's in _your_ yard," Nicke points out.

"So?" Ovi counters. Nicke sighs.

 

 

 

The dog is there still the next time Nicke comes over for dinner, and honestly, “Ovi, did you seriously get a new dog?”

"Still not mine," Ovi says. He's at the grill, again, the dogs are romping around, and again, the strange dog is still there. Nicke feels like he's losing his mind just a little bit. It's all so familiar and somehow just the slightest, tiniest bit off. The strange dog woofs at them. "He's nice," Ovi adds. He knows Nicke doesn't like his dogs - well, 'like' is maybe a misnomer. Is scared of them is more accurate.

"Don't have to be scared, though," Ovi huffs, and Nicke belatedly realizes that he's said the last part out loud. "You here all the time. They know you, and they're nice. I train them."

"All I can think about is their teeth, though," Nicke says. And why? Why is he even telling Ovi this? "Could your dogs rip me apart?"

"Backy," Ovi admonishes. "Yes, but they _wouldn't_."

"Why would you tell me that?" Nicke asks.

"Don't know. Is truth," Ovi tells him.

The strange dog barks at them.

 

 

 

Holtby is wearing his fedora again.

"It's so awful," Nicke says. Sure, he only meant to _think_ it, but there are the words, falling right out of his mouth. Holtby is used to Nicke's sharp edges, but he still looks startled. And maybe a little hurt. Or maybe not, even though up to this point the only person who has expressed distaste for the fedora is his own wife. "Sorry," Nicke adds, because he is. He didn't mean to say it.

"Is not nice, Backy," Ovi says to him, once Holtby has gone.

"I know, I wasn't thinking. Or I was thinking? I think I'm just tired, I keep saying things I don't mean to," Nicke admits.

"Is not a bad hat," Ovi tells him. Nicke's sure, based on his knowledge of Ovi's fashion sense, that this is not untrue.

Nicke makes a face.

 

 

 

Nicke starts to notice that things are different.

He can't stop saying the first thing that comes to mind when he's talking to people. Anyone, not just Ovi, not just his teammates. He's never been this unfiltered before. And sure, they're his friends, and he doesn't really say anything to them that's genuinely bad. But a lot of it comes out harsher than he means for it to, because he doesn't have time to think of a nice way to word them.

Like when he looks Carlson dead in the eyes and says, "Just fucking kiss him already," and Carlson's eyes go wide and ... actually, that's a bad example. Because no matter how many times he's watched Carlson and Oshie gaze longingly at each other, he would never usually encourage this.

But now he's actually said it out loud - not in front of other people, thankfully - and Carlson knows that someone has noticed. And sure, it's annoying as shit to watch them dance around each other, so what will the encouragement hurt, really?

(Well, the encouragement could hurt a lot of things, in the end, with Oshie heading into free agency. Nicke tries not to think about it too much, when just that past summer he’d watched free agency snatch love away from someone's grasp. Wilson’s moping had been terrible.)

He says as much to Ovi in the kitchen, when they're supposed to be playing video games, but really Ovi is wrapping slices of pizza around pepperoncinis. They order separately, because in Nicke's opinion, pineapple does not belong on pizza. Nicke likes his with pepperoni, the way pizza was intended.

"Okay," Ovi says, taking a bite of his slice. "More for me."

"You know what," Nicke grouches, "I'm sick of this. I don't know what's wrong with me. It's been weeks and I just. Spit all this garbage out and it's honestly- "

The dog that is not Ovi's dog is looking at him through the door.

"Your dog is staring at me," he says.

"Not my dog," Ovi insists.

Nicke takes a deep breath, holds it for a moment, then lets go. "Look," Nicke says. "I love you but you have to figure out this situation with this dog."

Ovi looks at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I meant it, and you know I did. Because I say every single thing that comes to mind," Nicke tells him. "And I thought that I just needed more sleep, because I'm not like this. You know I'm not like this."

"Yes," Ovi agrees, actually putting down his slice of pizza. He leans against the counter. "But you say you love me?"

"Well, obviously I'm not going to tell myself to just fucking kiss you already, the way I did to Carly," Nicke says. He can feel himself start to blush, the back of his neck and the tops of his cheeks going too-hot.

"What if I told you.".

"Do you want to?" Nicke asks.

"Only if you want to," Ovi says, insistent.

They stand on opposite sides of the kitchen island for a long moment. Finally, one of the dogs barks in the backyard, and Ovi moves around the island to stand in front of Nicke.

"Only if you want to," Nicke says, echoing Ovi’s words back to him.

As it turns out, Ovi wants to.

The strange dog barks one last time at the back door, then hikes a leg and pisses on the door jamb.

 

 

 

"Hey, where's your other dog?" Nicke asks sleepily, shifting slightly from where his head is resting on Alex's shoulder to look at the array of dogs curled up around them in the living room, but not the strange, dark one who had been playing in the yard.

"I tell you, not my dog," Ovi says. "Probably it go home."

The dog was there for months. Did people not miss it? Did it have a home to go to?

This time, Nicke says none of it out loud.


End file.
